A Magistrates court in Mullaitivu has ordered three suspects that were involved in the assault against two Tamil guardian correspondents last month, to be further kept in custody for another 14 days, until 17th November 2020.
Mullaitivu’s District Magistrate announced the extension to detain the gang involved in timber smuggling as of Tuesday 3rd November 2020, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, MP and lawyer, M. A. Sumanthiran.
M. A. Sumanthiran and fellow TNA lawyers were representing the journalists, while Senior Advocate Anton Punithanayakam and his team were representing the suspects of the case, at the hearing.
Kanapathipillai Kumanan and Shanmugan Thavaseelan, two Tamil Guardian correspondents who went to collect information regarding illegal logging and timber smuggling in the Murippu forest reserve in Mullaitivu, were beaten with metal rods and injured by fraudulent traders on Monday (October 12th). Both journalists have previously faced threats and intimidation for their work, including from the Sri Lankan security forces. The vicious attack left them both with injuries that required hospital treatment. Both journalists had the evidence they had gathered deleted and money stolen.
Sumanthiran stated after the case hearing that three suspects were initially arrested and a further two other suspects were later arrested. He confirmed that two of the suspects had already been released on bail and that they opposed against a bail application for a third suspect in court.
“This is not an ordinary case. Socially responsible journalists were attacked when they tried to expose anti-social activity. The forest department stated that police had not taken any action against the deforestation taking place. The assault took place when the journalists went to expose this. I have requested the court to consider the incident as serious anti-social behaviour,” stated the TNA MP.
